As Flora Hamilton, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter (SBC), explains, the key is for leaders to be able to identify this challenge in themselves and take advantage of expert support to gain the mindset they need to drive their business forward.

Feeling like a fraud at the top

While we expect career advancement to build confidence, many leaders experience the opposite. As responsibilities grow, self-assurance often shrinks, particularly for SME leaders whose personal and professional identities merge.

For example, research has revealed that 71% of CEOs and 65% of senior executives report persistent self-doubt, compared to just 33% of junior professionals.  The numbers are equally telling for entrepreneurs, with 62% stating they have experienced imposter syndrome.

We frequently witness this in our Help to Grow: Management Course. Exceptionally capable leaders arrive with bold visions, yet initially hesitate to execute them. Their transformation from low self-belief to decisive action demonstrates how structured support can rebuild the confidence eroded by leadership's isolation.

Distinguishing imposter syndrome from ordinary self-doubt

It’s important to note that we all doubt ourselves from time to time – it’s a normal part of growth. When facing new challenges or big decisions, questioning your abilities can help you weigh risks and improve. Healthy self-doubt keeps you learning.

Imposter syndrome is different. It manifests as an entrenched belief that success is undeserved, despite evidence to the contrary. No amount of praise or achievement silences that inner critic insisting, "You don’t belong here."

High achievers tend to be disproportionately affected precisely because they hold such high expectations for themselves. This is something that Sheryl Sandberg, ex-COO of Meta and author of Lean In, experienced – believing that she always needed to do more to ‘deserve to be in the room’.  Eventually, that pressure can become overwhelming and paradoxically impact performance.

How imposter syndrome holds leaders back

Our experience working with SME leaders has highlighted that, often, imposter syndrome can at first act as a motivator, pushing leaders to work harder to "prove" themselves. But over time, it takes a toll and reduces performance. Here’s some key examples from our business school leaders of how chronic self-doubt undermines leadership:

• Avoiding key projects: when leaders doubt their abilities, they may hesitate on critical projects due to a lack of clear frameworks and guidance. Overcoming this uncertainty often requires adopting the right structures. Once in place, these frameworks provide confidence, reinforcing that they were already on the right path and strengthening their decision-making
• Questioning if they’re the right choice: even when others fully trust their capabilities, a leader’s ability to act decisively can be hindered by an overwhelming belief that the people who selected them have made a mistake and will soon recognise their error
• Skipping networking opportunities: opportunities to engage with peers can be a great way to share insights and also discuss fears and challenges. Yet a lack of self-belief can see people avoid such occasions and, even when they do attend, struggle to converse with others
• Dodging presentations: public speaking unlocks growth (for both individuals and often their business), but those that feel like a fraud often find ways to avoid opportunities to pitch, present, or advocate for their business
• Misreading feedback: constructive criticism stings more when you’re already doubting yourself. It’s easy to hear confirmation of failure rather than a chance to improve
• Over-comparing to peers: comparing achievements with those of industry peers and feeling inadequate frequently stands in the way of optimal performance, and can become a common obsession for those with low confidence

Left unchecked, our experience of working with over 11,000 small business leaders shows that these behaviours become more than just personal struggles and create tangible barriers to business growth.

Rebuilding confidence when chronic self-doubt strikes

Conquering imposter syndrome takes time and honest self-reflection. Strategies frequently discussed between the Help to Grow: Management Course 1-2-1 business mentors and participants which can start the process of reclaiming confidence immediately include:

• Embrace the reality that no leader knows everything: that nagging imposter feeling often stems from assuming you need to have all the answers. The truth is leadership isn't about omniscience – as you evolve from the expert in your field to a leader, you’ll need to become comfortable with not knowing all the answers and instead employing experts to lead on functional areas
• Develop a trusted circle for honest feedback: in the relative isolation of SME leadership, it's easy to lose perspective. Building relationships with mentors, peers, or through initiatives like Help to Grow: Management, provides that crucial external viewpoint and allows more rounded reflection on strengths and weaknesses. Particularly for the likes of family businesses with strong legacies of ‘how things are done’, this wider external perspective can be extremely refreshing
• Voice your doubts instead of hiding them: every leader experiences fears - the difference between productive concern and paralysing doubt often comes down to whether you keep those worries bottled up. Sharing them with a mentor, colleague or peer group can help transform abstract anxieties into specific challenges you can address
• Structure your ambitions with SMART goals: leaders often set high standards for themselves, however it’s important to set achievable goals to avoid failure. By breaking down big objectives into Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound steps, you turn major goals into a series of manageable wins that build genuine confidence
• Recognise progress in all its forms: leadership is as much about the daily small victories as the major milestones. Celebrating just the ‘big’ accomplishments can ironically decrease your motivation and increase the feeling of being an imposter in the interim

Transforming self-doubt into strategic confidence

At its core, imposter syndrome is a psychological safeguard to protect us, which instead holds us back. The challenge of overcoming it becomes far less daunting when met with the right frameworks and support systems.

My experience is that the most respected leaders aren’t those who never doubt themselves, rather those who’ve learned to act decisively despite those doubts. With deliberate practice and support, that same confidence is possible for any SME leader – and with it comes new opportunities to grow.

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